"Influence, pressure, strain. These words have been the foundation for my current projects that comprise communicating the theme in large, hand-built clay forms. Delicate continously flowing entities in white thinbuilt clay. They reflect varying degrees of external and internal pressures, and how, as a consequence, perception of inner and outer space is changed or challenged.

My inspiration is the ever-changing landscape of my own life and environment. I try to relate my work to my life. What is happening and how does it feel? Pressure. Flow. Strain. Ramification. Inside turns outside. As a starting point I put words onto my feelings, and use the vessel form to translate this into three dimension. The size of the form relates to my body. The thin walls are pulled and bent in different directions.

I feel a great freedom in hand-building. It grows slowly, I have time to reflect, I can change direction, make connections and have a smooth surface with the same thickness. I build big forms, the clay will dry slowly and not collapse. When the form is ready and the clay is dry, I sand away at the surface and then spray it with a slurry of kaolin. The pieces are finally fired in stoneware temperature, about 1250°."

Extracts from publications:

”One is easily moved by Eva Hild´s sculptures. Perhaps because of their strong expression, and often large scale, they tend to speak directly to the body. The communication is physical and immediate. Somewhat paradoxically, this relative ease of access is carried forward by an obvious reduction of the artistic means of expression. The stoneware is smooth and of the same thickness throughout. The color is white. The sculptures radiate austerity and integrity, perhaps even a fear of saying too much. Color and form are reduced to a few basic elements: monochromatic surfaces alternating between convex and concave…”
From the catalogue ”Twelve Hertha Bengtson grant recipients”, text Love Jönsson, translation Rebecca Landmer, 2002

”…Or, to put it more precisely, empty space is her material. And this empty space is drawn into her forms and becomes one with them. One cannot imagine one without the other. When one consider Eva Hild´s forms, one sees that the empty space has just as much character as do her flowing lines. In the final analysis this eradicates the difference between outside and inside, surface and depht. So if her forms represent something it is in a negative fashion, like a black and white film waiting to be developed.”
From the book ”Voices ”– Contemporary Ceramic Art from Sweden, text Sara Danius, Photo Patrik Johansson. Carlsson Bokförlag 2006

”…Subtle curvatures are explored, the works display soft, almost powdery, matte surfaces that evoke the texture of skin, and tumescent bulges suggest both public and private territories of the body. At the same time the shapes are reminiscent of the delicate writhings and flutterings of underwater nudibranches familiar to viewers of nature television documentaries…”
From an article in American Ceramics Magazine14/3, 2004, text David McFadden

Photos on the website: Carl Bengtsson, Andrea Björsell, Ola Kjelbye, Anna Sigge, Eva Hild